Reaction from Old Trafford on Thursday after Rasmus Hojlund scored twice as Manchester United fought back to beat Norwegian team Bodo/Glimt 3-2 in the Europa League to give new manager Ruben Amorim a victory in his first game at Old Trafford. Hojlund also set up the opening goal scored by Alejandro Garnacho in the first minute of the game, but United still had to stage a comeback in order to stay unbeaten in the competition with two victories and three draws. They now sit 12th in the table on nine points, while Bodo/Glimt slip to 17th following their second defeat of the campaign. “For us today, it was a really hard, a tough game," Bod Glimt boss Kjetil Knutsen said after the game. "We were in it in most of the first half. But then 20-25 minutes of the second half, we were not good enough. We open too much to them. And then you see the qualities in this team.” The visitors took a 2-1 lead, but Hojlund equalised just before half time and then scored the winner five minutes into the second half from close range, tapping in a cross from Manuel Ugarte. After leaving Portuguese leaders Sporting Lisbon to replace the sacked Erik ten Hag as United manager, Amorim made his debut in charge of United in a 1-1 draw at Ipswich in the English Premier League with Marcus Rashford scoring 81 seconds into the game. In the Europa League, the goal game even sooner. Hojlund intercepted a back pass to visiting goalkeeper Nikita Haikin to allow Garnacho to put United ahead just 48 seconds in. Hakon Evjen equalised in the 19th minute with a perfectly directed first-time left-foot strike from the edge of the United area and Philip Zinckernagel gave the Norwegian champions the lead, finishing off a fast counter after Tyrell Malacia failed to stop him. Malacia was making his first senior appearance in 550 days and was substituted at the break by Diogo Dalot. As in the new-look Champions League, the top eight teams after the eight-round league phase advance directly to the round of 16 in March, and teams placed from ninth to 24th enter a play-off in February.

• published: 29 Nov 2024
• views: 66